Small Boat Whale Watching in Gold Coast: A Personalised Adventure Tour

Embark on a personalised adventure with our Small Boat Whale Watching tour in Gold Coast. Get up close and personal with humpback whales on a smaller vessel for longer encounters and incredible underwater shots.

Duration: 3 hours
Cancellation: 1 day learn more
Highlights
  • 3F8F+RF South Stradbroke - We utilise a small vessel in small groups of upto 12 guests, providing an unparalleled, personal, and boutique whale watching experience. We closely work with researchers and encourage all our guests to become inspired by what we do.

Why a small vessel?

You can literally touch the ocean and feel the spray of whales blows in your face! That is how close you are to the water surface on our boat. When we say to get at eye level with our humpback whales, we really mean it. You can look forward to closer and longer encounters as humpback whales do not feel intimated by a smaller vessel! Due to its small size and quiet engine, whales love to check out our boat up close.

For your convenience, we provide courtesy spray jackets and inflatable life vests to keep you safe and dry.

We look forward to welcoming you on our small boat.

What's Included
  • Spray Jacket
  • Life Jacket
Additional Information

Our Small Boat Whale Watching tour is an absolutely personalised experience. This 2-3h Gold Coast Whale Watching adventure tour is on a smaller vessel with a maximum of 8 participants. Spectators can look forward to closer and longer encounters as humpback whales do not feel intimated by a smaller vessel. The outer tubes of our semi-inflatable vessel are only 50cm above the water surface. This even allows you to submerge your waterproof camera on passing whales for some great underwater shots for those lucky enough.

Whilst no vessel is allowed to approach whales closer than 100m, our experience shows that the whales are usually approaching us whilst our engines are turned off and the vessel drifts through the water. For this very reason, our vessel is frequently chartered by research groups to conduct field surveys and sampling.

  • Children MUST be minimum of 5years and require a booking/reservation
  • Children MUST be a minimum of 5years to join this experience and will require their own seat
Location
95 Marine Parade
Marine Parade
Please arrive at least 30mins prior to departure. Note - Our small boat does not have bathroom/toilet facilities so it will be important to ensure you are prepared before we leave.
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.8
(53 Ratings)
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Deborahjh3802yk
Jul 14, 2024
Awesome experience - The staff were knowledgeable kind and caring. The whole experience was awesome, we had a great day the only thing that would have improved by experience was if their what to bring list said bring a power pack for your phone even if it is 100 percent full at the start. We saw so much turtles, dolphins, whales breaching, whales around the boat and to top it off at the end when my phone was dying a 5 whale heat run. I will be back to swim with the whales and will bring all my visitors who come during the whale season. Deborah J
Review provided by Tripadvisor
N8655abrachelr
Jul 13, 2024
Whale tale - Have previously been on tours in the much bigger boats so definitely enjoyed the smaller crowd, I feel you can see the whales better and the smaller boats are quicker and can get ahead of the whales for better viewing than the larger vessels. We saw whales and were happy with our day. My only problem is that I am seeing my same trip advertised $30 less on a competitor website so I could have saved myself $60 on the 2 tickets. Would I go with Aqua Adventures again? Absolutely- the staff were great.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jennifer_g
Jul 12, 2024
What a great experience!!... - What a great experience!! The whales were so close to our boat. We even got to see 2 babies. I felt sorry for the people on the bigger boats!
Review provided by Viator
Prince0fpersia
Jun 29, 2024
10/10 would go again - Organized and efficient trip. Obviously you can’t control nature so what you see/don’t see is completely out of the tour guide’s control and you just have to book your trip at the right time of the year to maximize your chances of seeing whales. The boat moves much faster than a commercial boat from sea world and it’s much lower to the water so you get a much better view of the whales, and you’re not fighting with a million people to the railings to get a photo I’ve been on so many trips now it’s really the luck of the draw with what you see. Can’t wait to go again
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Davoh618
Jun 28, 2024
A magical whale watching experience - Absolutely amazing! We have been on a few of the larger whale watching boats, and you can never really see much due to crowding, being on the smaller boat and up so close with the whales was magical they were just swimming past us putting on a magical show. Incredible! An experience we will never forget.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
K4748nllukes
Jun 22, 2024
So many whales! - Fantastic experience! Staff were professional and the tour was outstanding value for money. Recommend this experience highly!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Cruiser25077019572
Jun 21, 2024
Brilliant Experience ! - We had a fantastic morning ! Great, friendly, efficient, fun crew, they were also very respectful and passionate about whales and sealife .Excellent small ( 12 comfortable seats, but plenty of room to move) We saw plenty of whales and dolphins 🐬 and they interacted with us 😀 This was a more intimate and memorable experience than on a big boat. (especially for those who swam with the whales) We highly recommend !! Aqua Adventures is closest Whale watch to Brisbane I think, easy to find and easy to park.. We will definitely return this season.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
P759qptheresaj
Jun 10, 2024
Highly recommend!!! - I had an absolutely wonderful time and highly recommend this excursion. We saw both whales & dolphins. One massive whale even breached the water twice, putting on a magnificent show, the 2nd of which I was able to capture on video. The owner drove and his staff member was super knowledgeable, answering my many whale-related questions. Both men were super friendly. Would definitely try other excursions offered by this company.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
B1127jzchriss
Jun 9, 2024
MUST DO!! - The trip was incredible! Being on a smaller boat meant we had uninterrupted views of the whales with the GC as a back drop. Highly recommended this whilst on the GC and especially on a small boat compared to the big boats which have well over 100 people to compete with for the perfect view. Great insight from the team who took us out, a really enjoyable experience
Review provided by Tripadvisor
X4774ejolegv
Feb 1, 2024
Snorkeling Unreal - Unreal underwater colours, fish, dolphins etc. Knowledgeable captain, willing to help. Planning to come back again.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Select Date and Tickets
up to 8 guests
1 Adult
September 2024
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